


Unfound Families

by Cloudandus



Category: Green Lantern (Comics), Green Lantern - All Media Types, Green Lantern Corps (Comics), Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps (Comics)
Genre: Accidental Baby Acquisition, GuyKyle Week 2020, M/M, Mention of Guy's shitty childhood, No beta we die like mne, three times
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-10
Updated: 2020-05-10
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:13:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24111853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cloudandus/pseuds/Cloudandus
Summary: Guy Gardner and Kyle Rayner have three children. Guy tells anyone who asks that he gave birth to them, and because most of the people asking are aliens they believe him. The real story is a little more complicated.
Relationships: Guy Gardner/Kyle Rayner
Comments: 7
Kudos: 28





	Unfound Families

**Author's Note:**

> For Guy/Kyle Week 2020 Day 1 - Warriors/Mpreg. I decided to take some liberties with the prompt. This story does not actually contain any Mpreg.
> 
> The title comes from the motto of the National Adoption Center: “There are no unwanted children, just unfound families.”

“Contacting Honor Lantern Guy Gardner…” 

Kyle had specifically chosen his ring’s voice to be as mellow and soothing as possible, but hearing it now still made his anxiety skyrocket.

It was stupid -- Kyle was the one who asked the ring to call. He needed to talk to Guy. He _wanted_ to talk to Guy.

Guy wouldn’t be mad at him. Probably. He always said that what supervillains did wasn’t Kyle’s fault. That wasn’t what Kyle was afraid of. It’s just --

He didn’t know if the new, fragile _Thing_ between them would survive this. The Relationship Thing, where they stopped making excuses for Kyle sleeping in Guy’s bed every night and started sharing coffee-tasting kisses in the mornings.

It wouldn’t be the end of the world if Guy broke up with him. Guy had sworn that their partnership was the most important relationship he had, and that that wouldn’t change even if things didn’t work out between them romantically. Kyle had survived plenty of break ups a lot less amicable than that.

But he didn’t want to, dammit! Being with Guy was so easy, when everything else in his life was a drawn-out, tooth and nail struggle. He’d never known that a relationship could feel so much like coming home.

He didn’t want it to end, especially not like _this_. This wasn’t even Kyle’s fault! But it was still too much to ask of their fledgling relationship. 

Honestly, Kyle’s first instinct was to wonder if he could somehow keep Guy from finding out. The answer was a resounding _No_. He could easily imagine Guy’s disappointed expression when he found out that Kyle had tried to hide this from him. It was the same every time Kyle got scared and decided it was time to start digging his own grave. 

_“Kyle, I know lying is a defense mechanism for you.”_ Guy had said, early on in their partnership, when his inability to be honest started to show. 

_“I will never get mad at you for trying to protect yourself,”_ Guy promised, _“but I need you to tell me the truth, buddy.”_

Somehow, Guy always knew when Kyle was lying to him. Four and a half years into their partnership, all it took was a single look to have Kyle spilling his guts.

Which is why he was calling. Lying would make things worse, and there was nothing he could do at this point to prevent the possible end of their relationship, so he might as well ask for some sorely needed advice.

“Hey, buddy, what’s up?” Guy said. His voice was clear even several lightyears away. Kyle had turned off the video part of the call; he thought it would be easier if he couldn’t see Guy’s face.

“Hey, Guy.” Kyle responded weakly. The line was quiet for a moment before Guy’s voice returned, now subdued and concerned.

“Kyle, where are you?”

“Outside the Watchtower.”

“Are you injured? Did you have a flashback?”

“No,” Kyle said, shaking his head even though Guy couldn’t see it. “No -- I… Something’s happened.”

“Okay,” Guy responded easily. “Tell me more?”

“So, um, remember how the JLA found that baby in a spaceship recently? And nobody knew whose it was?” Kyle started, nervously twisting his ring on his finger. Guy hummed in the affirmative.

“Well, they did some tests, and apparently it’s mine?” There. Just like a bandaid.

“It’s your biological child?” Guy asked. He didn’t sound mad yet, but that could be the shock. God knew Kyle was still in shock.

“Yes. Mine and… mine and Alex’s.” Kyle was whispering at that point. It was the first time he said it out loud. It had only been a few minutes since Kyle saw the test results for the first time and immediately threw himself into the vacuum of space.

“The kid they found is the biological child of you and Alex DeWitt.” Guy said. It didn’t sound like a question, but Kyle answered anyway.

“Yeah. They did the DNA test a few times, and… yeah.”

“Okay.” Guy said. He seemed to be taking this very calmly. Kyle wasn’t confident it was going to last.

“Is the kid from this universe?” Guy asked. It was a reasonable question, one Kyle himself had asked once the paternity test had come back positive. The answer he got was not the one he was hoping for.

“No, we checked. He shows signs of being artificially aged, so he’s probably a clone. Except not, because he only has half my DNA, not all of it. Anyway, the JLA’s pretty sure he’s here to stay.”

“Okay.” Guy said, even though it very much wasn’t and he damn well knew that. “How old is the kid?”

“Um,” Kyle said, “A baby?” It came out sounding more like a question than he’d meant it to. Kyle certainly wasn’t an expert on child development, but he knew enough to be sure that the kid he saw was more baby than child.

“Is he old enough to talk or walk?” Guy asked, clearly not as confident in Kyle’s ability to identify human development stages. Which, okay, fair. 

“No. He’s-he’s crawling.”

“Kid got a name?”

“Not yet.”

“Is someone taking care of him right now?” Kyle swallowed around a lump in his throat. This was the part he was dreading.

“Yes, Dinah is with him. And Roy Harper. Red Arrow Roy Harper, not Arsenal Roy Harper. But, Guy…” Kyle choked, and Guy stayed quiet as he worked himself up to speak. “He’s -- he’s my _son_. And Alex’s. I know it’s a bad idea -- I know it’s way too early for kids and we never even talked about it, but -- I want to be his dad.”

It was a weight off his shoulders, admitting it to someone. He didn’t say a word to anyone, all throughout the tests, instead holding the feeling tight to his chest. He hadn’t wanted to hope, hadn’t wanted to think of the consequences if he did make that choice.

This baby was his flesh and blood. He had Kyle’s messy hair. Alex’s blue eyes and the curve of her lip. His Ma’s nose. And Kyle didn’t have Alex anymore, or his mother, and he’d never had a father or siblings or cousins or anyone else who shared his blood. This kid was his family. And Kyle wanted that.

Of course, Kyle wanted Guy too. They had only been dating for a few months. He had been starting to think it was going to work out, that they were going to get closer instead of self destructing, get engaged instead of breaking up. He thought maybe one day they could start a family together. 

Guy would be an amazing father. He loved kids, and they loved him back. Blue Beetle’s little sister had declared herself his Number #1 Fan. Booster Gold’s shy, traumatized daughter adored him. He was a serious challenger to Hal’s position of Favorite Uncle to his own niece and nephew. Probably because he was just a big kid himself. Or maybe it was the freaking Bachelor’s in Child Psychology and Education and several years experience teaching Special Ed. Guy never regretted quitting his job and severing contact with his kids to keep them safe after he became a Green Lantern, but Kyle could hear in his voice how much he missed them whenever they came up.

But even Kyle, famous for jumping into the deep end of every relationship, understood that that was way too soon for kids. If it was too soon for them to have their own kids it was absolutely too soon for them to coparent Kyle’s dead girlfriend’s genetically engineered clone baby. There was no point in any relationship where it would be time to adopt your dead girlfriend’s baby, even if they had been conceived naturally instead of whatever mad science was required to produce the child of a girl nearly a decade buried.

Kyle wanted Guy. He didn’t know what he would do without him in his life. But he didn’t need Guy. He had lost a lot of people he hadn’t thought he could live without, and he was still alive. Guy didn’t need him either. 

But the baby? The baby needed him. For better or worse, Kyle was the only parent he had. And he refused to be like his own dad, a nameless, shapeless figure whose only impact on his son’s life was the void he left in his wake. Kyle had no idea what he was doing, but he’d be damned if he wasn’t going to try his hardest.

“Why would it be a bad idea, Kyle?” Guy asked softly.

“Why? I don’t know how to be a dad! I’m going to fuck it all up.”

“You’re not going to fuck it up.” Guy promised.

“How can you be so sure?” Kyle demanded. He fucked up every other relationship in his life. Hell, he was currently in the process of fucking up _their_ relationship.

“Because I’m not going to let you.” Guy explained, like it was obvious. “Kyle, you’re not doing this alone. I’m going to be there every step of the way, and I’m going to tell you if you’re about to fuck up. You’ll learn. And if somehow you don’t learn and you really are an irredeemably terrible father, I’ll divorce you and sue for custody.”

“But we’re not married.” Kyle argued weakly, because clearly that was the important part to focus on.

“Not yet.” Guy said, and Kyle could hear the smirk in his voice.

Kyle ran his hands through his hair, replaying Guy’s words in his head. There was no way he could be suggesting what Kyle thought he was. Things like that didn’t happen to people like Kyle. Why would this be easy when nothing in his life ever had been?

“You… you wanna raise the kid with me? We’ve barely started dating.” 

“Kyle, we’ve been partners for years.” Guy said bluntly. “Even if we weren’t together I’d still be doing this. Only difference is I’m Daddy instead of Uncle.”

“Oh…” Kyle said. It wasn’t that he wasn’t ecstatic to hear that Guy was on board, but he had been so prepared for rejection that Guy’s easy acceptance left him wrongfooted. He had half a speech planned begging Guy to stay and promising that Kyle would take care of the kid all on his own.

“But he’s Alex’s.” Kyle blurted stupidly. Guy had already agreed, why was he reminding him of all the reasons it was a bad idea?

“Then we’ll make sure he knows what an amazing person his Mom was.” Guy said, like it was nothing, like it was okay that Kyle still loved a dead girl and still woke up screaming her name and still couldn’t look at a fucking refrigerator without remembering every single time.

Jade had hated it when Kyle mentioned Alex. He could always tell when Donna saw a drawing of Alex in his sketchbook, because she got this pinched look on her face. Connor had yelled at him once, for never putting away the groceries, even though Kyle had told him why.

Guy liked hearing stories about Alex. Sometimes he would tell his own stories about Tora. Even with Tora’s resurrection, Guy understood better than anyone what it was like to love someone so much that their death changed who you were. Kyle thought he would be in the same boat, if Alex came back tomorrow. She had been dead nearly a decade, and Kyle was nothing like the person she had known. Even in a world of superheroes and magic and miracles, Guy and Kyle could never get back what they had lost. For them, the memories were a comfort, not a source of jealousy.

The first thing Guy showed him once construction on the apartment above Warrior’s was finished was the Space Pantry. _“A combination freezer, fridge, hot box, and pantry!”_ Guy had said in a cheesy announcer voice, like he was trying to sell the thing on late night TV. It didn’t even have a door, just a glowing purple forcefield that clashed with the decor and made his skin tingle. Guy never admitted that the Space Pantry was for Kyle, and anyone who claimed so was treated to an infomercial presentation on the many advantages of Space Pantry over conventional Earth food storage devices. There was a Powerpoint. Kyle had learned to choose his battles.

He hadn’t even been planning to live with Guy at that point; instead taking advantage of the spacious apartment that came with his promotion to Honor Lantern. A solid half of the apartment above the bar -- the larger guest room that was transparently intended for Kyle, the spare room with an entire wall of floor to ceiling windows that Guy offhandedly suggested could be an art studio as if he hadn’t had John design it specifically for that purpose, the _Space Pantry_ \-- was built ‘just in case’ Kyle wanted to stay over.

To be fair, Kyle did only last six months in his own apartment before moving in with Guy. He blames Guy for being so aggressively welcoming. Like right now, with him threatening to sue for custody of the baby he hasn’t even met yet and has no legal claim over. And Kyle had somehow convinced himself Guy wouldn’t want anything to do with the kid.

“Okay.” Kyle said, and maybe it actually was, or at least was going to be. He took a deep breath. “What should I do right now, with the kid? Should I go see him?”

“How freaked out are you right now?”

“Uh, majorly?”

“If you go in there freaking out the kid’ll freak out too. Wait for me, I’ll be there in five.”

“Minutes?” Kyle asked. Guy was supposed to be on Oa. If he was already five minutes away then he had to have left right after Kyle’s call connected. 

“Yep. In the meantime, let’s brainstorm some names for Junior.”

* * *

Seeing the kid took Guy’s breath away. 

The little tyke was standing up, holding onto the bars of his temporary playpen for balance and looking up at them with big blue eyes. He looked somewhere between nine months to a year old, and he had a head of messy black hair just like his Daddy. Someone had put him in a Flash onesie that was slightly too big on him, and as Guy and Kyle approached he brought one chubby hand to his mouth to chew on his red sleeve.

Guy kneeled down to the kid’s level, Kyle following his lead and doing a passable job of hiding how much he was freaking out. The two of them still towered over the baby, but the smaller they seemed the less intimidating they’d be.

“Hey there, little guy.” Guy said as gently as he could, thankful that his voice didn’t waver. Black Canary and Red Arrow were still there, and he didn’t want them to see him crack. 

It was all for nothing; the baby took one look at him and broke into a gummy, four-toothed smile that melted his heart. He held out his hands in the universal ‘pick me up’ gesture and almost lost his balance without the support of the playpen. Guy grabbed him before he had a chance to fall and lifted him up to his chest. The kid rested his head against Guy’s chest and popped his thumb in his mouth, staring up at him with wide, curious eyes.

Guy blinked away stubborn tears. He can’t remember the last time he actually cried; his old man did his best to beat that kind of ‘sissy nonsense’ out of him. And here he was, the crying cock-sucker no son of Roland Gardner was ever supposed to be.

This was good though. He wanted his son to know that it was okay to cry. To never be ashamed of his own feelings or who he was. As long as Guy lived, his son was never going to be afraid of him. 

Course, there were other people in the room right now besides Kyle and the baby seeing him cry. Well, he was meeting his son for the first time, he had the right to get a little emotional. If they wanted to call him a crybaby, he’d just kick their asses.

The baby watched him in solemn silence as tears dripped down Guy’s face, before taking his thumb out of his mouth and trying to stick his entire saliva covered hand in his new father’s mouth.

Guy quickly intercepted with his own hand, and the baby gave him a look of such melodramatic heartbroken betrayal that Guy started laughing through his tears.

“Look at him!” He whispered to Kyle, who was standing at Guy’s shoulder and watching the baby with a look Guy recognized. It was the same he had every time they stumbled upon some new exotic alien fauna that Kyle wanted to get a closer look at but also suspected was incredibly poisonous. Usually, they learned he was right the hard way and ended up getting lectured by Natu. “He’s got your ASPCA face!”

Kyle scoffed in immediate denial, as he always did when Guy made the comparison between Kyle’s self proclaimed ‘brooding’ face and the sad faced puppies and kittens picked specifically for maximum emotional blackmail in that five minute long commercial demanding to know why you want the animals to suffer since you’re not donating. Undeterred, Guy began singing softly.

“ _In the arms of an angel…_ ”

“Guy!” Kyle protested, in a voice he probably thought was chiding but mostly just sounded fond.

“ _Mm mm mm-m, mmm-mm”_ Guy hummed. You’d think he’d remember more of the words, seeing how much he likes teasing Kyle with the song.

The baby shifted in his arms, stuck his thumb back in his mouth, and relaxed in a way that made it clear he was planning to take a nap then and there on Guy’s shoulder.

Guy took a wet, shuddering breath, wiped away his tears, and kept humming.

The kid’s hair was soft, and smelled like shampoo. Every breath sent a warm puff of air into Guy’s collarbone. One of Guy’s hands completely engulfed his son’s back, his ring glowing brightly as he felt the small chest expand and contract.

Kyle’s hand joined his on their baby’s back. Guy reached blindly with his free arm and caught him, drawing him close so his head rested under Guy’s chin and he had the two most important people in his life in his arms where they belonged. He kept humming.

Together, he and Kyle watched their son fall asleep for the first time.

After humming the song twice in a row, Guy was confident that the kid was out cold. He stopped humming, and finally turned his attention to the other people in the room, who they had been completely ignoring up until this point. Black Canary, who Guy was reasonably familiar with, was there because she was the closest thing the League had to a social worker. Red Arrow Guy didn’t know so well, but if he remembered correctly the man had a daughter a few years older than Booster’s. He’d have to remember to thank him for taking care of the baby while he and Kyle got their shit together.

“Canary,” Guy asked quietly, “Did you find out how old he is?”

“The tests we performed indicate that he’s about a year old.”

“What does that mean?” Kyle asked, perking up a little from where Guy’s humming had nearly put him to sleep right alongside his son.

“Means he’ll start walking soon.” Guy explained. “Has he been talking or babbling?”

“Some babbling, but no real words that I’ve heard.” Red Arrow answered.

“So we’ll expect him to say his first words soon too.” Guy continued. “Something simple, like ‘mama’ or ‘dada’.”

“Okay,” Kyle said, twisting the fabric of Guy’s shirt in his hands idly. The kid drooled on Guy’s shoulder, snuffling a bit in his sleep but otherwise undisturbed by their conversation.

“So, you wanna be Dada or Papa?” Guy asked. Might as well get some of the practical stuff squared away while the baby slept.

“Oh. ...Papa, I guess.”

“Sure. Which room should we turn into the nursery?”

“Mine.” Kyle answered easily. “It’s the closest.”

Guy was pretty sure Kyle had figured out that he had asked John to make sure their rooms shared a wall so he could hear when Kyle had nightmares and go comfort him. Of course, nowadays Kyle slept in Guy’s bed practically every night. It wouldn’t be difficult to move the rest of his stuff in permanently, and being able to hear the baby without a monitor would be a plus. Guy’s bedroom was the Master anyway, Kyle having traded for dibs on the larger of the spare rooms to be his art studio.

“That’s a good idea.” Guy agreed. Black Canary had stepped out at some point during their planning session, and was now returning with a data pad in hand. She passed it to Kyle, who held it up so that they could both see.

It was a file on their son, most of the information already filled out. The name was left glaringly blank. Guy skimmed the rest of the information.

“His birthday should be today.” Guy said, already reaching to edit it. The file had it as yesterday, the day the JLA had found him.

“Really?” Kyle asked.

“Yeah. Your birthday’s usually the day you meet your parents.”

“Oh. That makes sense.”

“Have you chosen a name yet?” Black Canary asked. 

“Yes.” Kyle confirmed, typing the name into the space provided. “I wanted to honor Alex, but I also wanted him to have a name that’s all his own, without any baggage, you know?”

He handed the data pad back to Black Canary. “What do you think?”

“I like it.” She said, smiling softly.

In Guy’s arms, the newly named Samuel Alexander Rayner slept on, oblivious.


End file.
